


Gumwin (Re-Write)

by KhaoticVex



Category: AWOG, Amazing World Of Gumball, TAWOG, The Amazing World of Gumball
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/F, F/M, Gumwin 2, Gumwin Two, M/M, Possible sexual themes, Re-write, Romance, Temporary Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-14
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 08:18:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4997500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KhaoticVex/pseuds/KhaoticVex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gumball Watterson; he was your average, naive, trouble-making teen, and with five years flying by full of chaos of all kinds, how much would it possibly be able to change what he thought his life to be? Has his entire life been a lie all along? (Re-Write of the original Gumwin fanfic, please don't spam and please read the author's notes, enjoy!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The sound of a familiar car engine starting tickled the curiosity of a certain seven-teen year old boy. After hastily shoving the last bite of his tuna fish sandwich into his mouth, he pranced over to the front door, swinging it open. Past the small wooden porch, and the fresh patch of green lawn, he saw his mother getting into the passenger's side of the family's yellow and brown mini-van.

Swallowing his food, Gumball called out to his mother while jogging down the small pathway, closer to the now running car, "Mom, where're you going?"

Nicole rolled the window down and handed her eldest child a key, "Your father, Anais, and I are going to the store. We're leaving you and Darwin here; he told me you have homework due tomorrow?" She said, raising an eyebrow at her son.

"Well, yeah, we do. But-" He began, sheepishly rubbing his neck.

"-No 'buts', Gumball." Her sky blue eyes narrowed. "I hope to hear from Ms. Simian that you have turned in your homework within the next parent's conference." Nicole paused, her light sky blue ears twitching for a moment as she thought. "Anyways, we'll be back at around…eleven. I'm trusting you and Darwin to keep watch of the house. Pizza's simple enough for dinner -don't you think, Richard?"

The large man answered with a warm laugh, from the driver's seat, "I'm sure it's fine honey."  
"Thanks dad." Gumball thanked his father quickly, as the mans chocolate brown eyes turned back to the road.

Nicole nodded, "Yes, simple enough. No sneaking out."

"Okay."

"Eat, lock the doors, and make sure to finish your homework." She listed quickly, brushing a strand of cyan hair from her face.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know." Gumball said, slightly agitated now.

A sigh, "Alright, let Darwin know where we are if he asks, okay?"

"Sure mom." He answered, rolling his icy blue eyes.

"Mom, let's go. I think he get's it." Anais complained from the back, tugging on her pink rabbit ears. "Remember, he's not a little kid any more."

Nicole rolled her eyes in return, "But you are, so don't talk to your mother like that."

"Sorry." Anais apologized, her large doe eyes dropping, although a small smile tugged at her lips.

"Okay, I get it, bye mom. Have fun." Gumball spoke quickly, cutting into the small tension by placing a soft kiss on his mother's cheek. "I'll let Darwin know."

"Gumball, be good." Nicole said quietly. "Bye sweetie." And with that, she placed the house key in his hands and Richard drove off.

Once the minivan disappeared from sight, Gumball let go of the breath he hadn't known he had been holding. With a skip in his step, the boy turned on his heal and headed into the house, doing as his mother had said; locking the doors. He climbed the stairs to the room he shared with his "step-brother". He quietly opened the bedroom door, slipped inside, and in the same way, closed it, with a soft 'click'. At the sound Darwin looked up from the bottom bunk, where he sat cross-legged with few paper scattered around him.

Darwin wore simple, comfortable clothing, as he always did. It contained of a neon green T-shirt that seemingly matched the slightly darker hue of his eyes, and shorts -that resembled swim trunks the color of a dark violet that blended nicely with the yellow stripe on both legs. He smiled cheekily at Gumball, who in return, flashed his oh-so-famous cat grin. Darwin bore barely noticeable freckles that scattered across the bridge of his nose, he had perfect, untouched (otherwise) sun kissed skin, and the most stunning fact, was his bright orange hair that was brushed over his forehead casually, yet fashionably, that had just a touch of wave to it. Just about everyone who had seen the sixteen year old boy shirtless, knew he had a set of gills on either side of his ribcage. It was really no doubt everyone noticed the golden-orange fins that were in place of his ears, and the tail that resembled a goldfish's.

After Gumball realized he had been staring, he shook the internal fawning from his head annoyed with himself. Walking over to his dresser, he slipped out that day's wear; his casual tan and brown turtleneck, and his blue jeans that rolled up at then ends to be a slightly darker shade of the shirts tan. Standing in his dark blue boxers, he contemplated of what to wear to bed that night. Shrugging, he grabbed a plain black tank top and put it on. He grabbed a pair of pajama bottoms, but the thought of actually putting them on and wearing them deflated as soon as it came.

He smiled deviously and pounced onto Darwin, earning a cry of protest. He nuzzled into the smaller teen's neck while a giggle escaped his mouth. Gumball's messy cyan blue hair tickled Darwin, and his large, fluffy ears of a darker hue twitched as he blew in them.  
"Gumball! Get off!" He whined, though a laugh of his own slipped out. "I -no, we need to finish our homework. Get off of me you psycho cat!"  
"Never! Homework is lame ass." Gumball laughed, curling his thin cyan tail around one of the boy's legs tightly.

"S-so? Does that mean w-we shouldn't do it?" Darwin stuttered at the closeness between the two.

"Yes. I don't do lame ass." The feline said with a small chuckle.  
Darwin scoffed, "Right. No, s-seriously, off. Now."

A moment's hesitation was all the younger boy needed, he used the pause to push Gumball off of him and sit up, a deep red tinge now settled on his cheeks. A blue eyebrow raised, as he studies his roommates shaky movements, and 'lip-chewing'. Nervous. But why was he nervous? Gumball's curious conscious thought.

Apparently, curiosity got the better of him, "Hey, are ya' okay, dude?" He asked with a twitch of his ear, and a tilt of his head.  
The ginger turned his large green eyes to the icy blue ones that were narrowed at him, "Uhh…yeah, I'm cool…dude." He said carefully, before tearing his eyes from Gumball's, and to the paper that was even more scattered around than before. And crinkled too.  
That wasn't a good enough answer to the paler boy, who snorted to prove so, "Right…"  
A pause.

"Aw come on, dude! I'm your best friend, your brother, you can tell me anything! Even a secret!" Gumball begged.

"No, not 'anything', Gumball." Darwin replied slowly, setting the now neat stack of paper on the nightstand. "Besides, who said I had a secret?"

The feline grinned, "You did."

"When?" Darwin sweat dropped.

"Just now. I never said you had a secret, I just said you can tell me if you do have one. Which you obviously do." He blinked, his mind slowly catching up with the words he had spoken so quickly.   
"So, what is it?"

Green eyes narrowed on ivy blue, "Well obviously I didn't catch that."

Gumball gave an un-amused expression, before blurting childishly, "Liar."

"Oh, whatever, finish your homework." Darwin said whilst rolling his eyes.

"You're stalling. Please tell me~!" Gumball pleaded, this time, giving him the…look.  
Darwin stared weakly at the large, pleading eyes, the trembling bottom lip, the flopped ears, and the clasped hands beneath his chin, "Fine." He caved.

Gumball perked up immediately, "Okay! What is it!"

"Well-"

"-Wait, lemme guess!" He smiled cockily. "Hmm…a present? No, to boring. Uh…oh. Oh."

"What?" Darwin asked, a pinch of nervousness weaved in the one word.

Gumball's grin widened, "You've got a crush."

The tan boy's jaw dropped comically, "W-what? H-how did you-?"

"I used to do the same thing, remember?"

"Oh. Dang." Darwin blushed, turning his gaze down to his folded hands, which seemed to suddenly   
feel sweaty, just as his shirt seemed clammy.

"Who is she?" Gumball asked softly, sliding a finger under the other boys chin, tilting his face to look at him. He gasped silently when he saw a single tear slide down Darwin's chin, and brushed it away with the pad of his thumb, "What's wrong?"

"She-" He cleared his throat. "She is really a h-he." Darwin voice cracked as he said the last part.

Gumball was honestly shocked, though he didn't remove his hand from Darwin's chin. Since when did he like guys? Sure, Gumball had thought that maybe, maybe mind you, his step brother had a fling with their class mate, Tobias, at one point. Now that he thought about it, Darwin did seem to be more comfortable around guys. But which guy was it? If it was Tobias -he was going to personally rip the asshole's throat out with his claws, or teeth, either would complete the job-

Whoa. That was uncalled for. Why was he so…angry at the thought of Darwin liking Tobias? Sure, he and the rainbow-haired brat weren't on very good terms with one another, having a spat or a tussle here and there but…he had never thought about killing someone. Even if he was a former friend. Shock ran through Gumball's spine when he thought about all the other guys he knew; Banana Joe -even though he and Idaho had a thing for a year or two now- or Bobert, it brought a wrenching pain to his heart just picturing Darwin with anyone other than- him.

Did…He, Gumball Watterson, like Darwin like that? Perhaps, ever since Penny Fitzgerald was out of the picture, he hadn't really hung out with anyone much more than Darwin, Anais, and Carrie. He was more than one-hundred percent positive he didn't like his younger sister like that, if he did, it was slightly sick, besides the related part…the age gaping. Anais was now nine years old, almost ten, and he was nearly eighteen. An eight year age difference and related. Nope. Wrong. And Carrie, he was pretty certain he only looked at her like a Gothic best-friend. Darwin was the only one he could think otherwise with. Besides. Darwin had in fact, had a crush on him when he pretended to be "Gumballoopseggswobbleunderpants", and he faintly remembered the little fluttery feeling in his stomach when Darwin actually looked at him like that. He had only ever been looked at like that by Penny.

Penny. She was both a good, and bad memory. When he had just turned fifteen, he had brought her on a date, because he had finally grown the balls to ask her out. They had gone to a simple restaurant, Olive Garden, when she had…lashed out at him. First, it was with words. She didn't like it when he talked about his friends, Darwin and Carrie. She said he was cheating on her. Even though he had just asked her out that day at school, during lunch. He had tried to apologize, tell her she was wrong. That, was the wrong word use. She snatched a knife from the table and brought it across her wrist, then shoved it in Gumball's face, allowing the fresh blood to drip onto his lips.

"I do this to myself to try and get you attention, Gumball!" She had paused, pulling up her dark blue long sleeve up to her elbow, revealing several scars. She brought the knife across her forearm, "But no, you're always distracted by your petty boyfriend."  
It had taken a moment for him to realize that she had called him gay, before he snapped, 

"Boyfriend?! I'm not gay! I-I love YOU! Besides-"

"NO! You love that fish boy!" She snarled, swiping the knife across Gumball's left cheek, leaving a clean-cut, "You're a bastard! I never want to see a whore like you ever AGAIN!" Her eyes had taken a strange…tint of dull green to the normally honey colored chocolate-brown.

The words had cut deeper into his heart than the knife that was then dragged crudely across his shoulder. She had gathered a crowd, but somehow had managed to barge through, and left in a rush. No trace of her ever since. She never showed up to school, she never called, she never…came around. It had honestly broken his heart. He blamed himself. He cried. He had began to bring the pain Penny had once brought to herself, to himself. Anais had found him in the bathroom tub, sobbing, his wrists cut in several places.

He had been broken for nearly a whole year then. And he had hated it. Darwin had hated it. Anais had hated it. His mom, Nicole, she hated it. His dad, Richard, he hated it. Carrie was the only one who had understood him. She had said that at some point in her ghostly life, she had done the same. But the scars never stayed, they would vanish overnight. She was who had convinced him to stop. His scars wouldn't just "vanish", they would stay for life. That, was when Carrie had become his closest girl-friend.

"Oh? Alright, who's he?" Gumball asked gently, rubbing his thumb across Darwin's flushed cheek.

Darwin's eyes widened, "Y-you mean y-you're fine with it? Y-you're n-not disgusted with me?"

A small smile tugged at Gumball's lips, "No. It's perfectly normal for anyone to like the same gender, or opposite. It doesn't matter to me Darwin, just as long as you're still you."

At that, Darwin giggled softly, "Awe, Gumball I-" He paused, sniffling. "Thank you. I-I needed that."

Gumball shrugged half-heartedly, "Welcome."

"C'mere." Darwin said quietly, pulling Gumball against him, so his head rested on the feline's shoulder.

Gumball flushed, that once lost, butterfly feeling returning to his stomach at the warm contact. He carefully wrapped his arms around the warm waist of the younger boy, while Darwin wrapped his own around his neck. He turned his arms so his wrists were exposed, and he gazed at the crisscrossed scars that were always going to be there. He wanted them to stay. It was memories. Good or bad. He wanted to remember them all. How he had felt. Warm and fuzzy, or cold and hurt.

Darwin pulled away, a smile gracing his lips, "You're the first person I've told."

He raised a blue eyebrow, "Really? Wow, I'm honored."

"You're nosey." Darwin said, pointing a finger at Gumball, then gently poked his nose.

The feline chuckled, "Yeah, I know. Now, are you going to tell me who this is? So if he hurts you I can beat him up?" He asked with a cocky grin.

Darwin froze, "Uh…"

His grin fell, "What?"

"Well-"

"-Hey, I can guess, I know you like it when I do that." Gumball said.

Darwin licked his lips, suddenly dry, thinking it over. Besides, what was the possibility he would guess himself? "Sure."

Gumball smirked, "Okay, Tobias."

A thin orange eyebrow raised, "Tobias? Why?"

"Because, it seemed like you two had a fling in Junior High." The older boy said bluntly.

"Oh. Well, no." Darwin blushed, "No, this guys a lot sweeter."

Gumball grinned, "Really? What's he like?"

It shocked Darwin that Gumball was able to talk about guys this easily, "Well, he's super sweet, he   
can be jackass, hot."

That was rewarded with a laugh.

"Um…" Darwin looked over Gumball quickly, trying to figure out some more suggestions, "He can be a little too curious for his own good. Protective. Athletic, big time, whether he knows it or not."

"Keep going…I like this guy so far." Gumball grinned.

Darwin had to giggle at that, "Uhm, he's funny, lazy, friendly, moody, loud, talkative, and I suppose…he's pretty popular."

"Okay, does he go to our school?" The teen asked, rocking side to side much like a child.

"Yes, he's also, very childish."

"Hm." Gumball tapped his chin, "How old is he?"

Darwin grins, "Near seventeen and eighteen."

"Okay…uh, Darwin, will you tell me who he is?" Gumball asked softly, "I won't judge. I promise."

"Some promises are impossible to keep…" Darwin whispered, pulling his face away from Gumball's hand and burying it in his raised shoulder.

The feline's blue and white ears droop, "Oh, if you don't trust me…I get it."

Darwin raised his green eyes to Gumball's, only to see them watering slightly, "What? No, that's not what I mean- ugh, I-I…fine. I'll t-tell y-you."

Gumball's ears twitch slightly, "Really?"

"Y-yeah."

The feline smiled, "Go on…I swear-"

"-He's YOU okay?!" Darwin blurted, then his eyes widened. "Oops."

Gumball stared, wide-eyed at the smaller boy who just admitted he had a crush on him. His heart was beating rapidly within seconds, and his face was warmer than he had ever thought possible. But he never had blushed much. Darwin was mentally slapping himself, he had just planned to lie, and say it was Clayton or someone he wouldn't hate, and his "crush" would go away after some time.

"M-me?" Gumball stuttered.

A cracked sigh, "You."

Gumball smiled, much to Darwin's utter disbelief, "Whoa, never would've guessed that."

"This isn't a t-time t-to be joking, t-this is s-serious!" Darwin exclaimed, his face just as red.

The cyan haired boy slid one hand that tangled into Darwin's soft orange hair, and the other tilted his chin up. Gumball's sensitive ears could hear their breathing both hitch as Gumball brushed their lips together.

"You know, this isn't a joke. You should trust me more often." Gumball purred lowly, pressing their lips together.


	2. Chapter 2

Darwin’s breath caught in his throat when he felt the odd, yet welcoming warmth of Gumball’s lips pressed to his own, and it took him a few moments or so before the ginger could somewhat regain his composure. Enough to press back into the other male’s mouth, shy and pretty damned innocent, eyes fluttering close. Oh yes, he could certainly get used to this. Right as he was actually beginning to adapt to the gentle lip to lip contact, however, Gumball had pulled back, pink tongue flickering out to run over his lips, slicking them with saliva. Darwin couldn’t help but catch his gaze lingering on those lips, and those cute little fangs of his. It wasn’t until the feline clears his throat and says something that Darwin adverts his eyes, only looking up to meet his step-brother’s icy blue eyes focused on him, an expression of obvious amusement ever present on his face.

“…jeez, Darwin, no need to look so star struck; it was just a little kiss.” He laughs out lightly and drops his hands from his jaw and hair, into his lap where his fingers would lace together.  
Darwin blinks a couple of times, then he scoffs and lightly punches Gumball’s shoulder, sticking his tongue out at him, “oh shut it, I’ve only been kissed a few times. Enough times to count on one hand, even.”

“That’s probably more kisses than I have ha- actually no that’s a lie, I’m definitely more experienced in the romantic area compared to you.” He teases playfully, his tail flicking mischievously behind him as his lips twitch up into a cocky grin, eyebrows raising some more, if not only to simply add to his amused expression.

Once again Darwin caught his attention drawing in towards Gumball’s lips, but this time around he manages to catch himself before the older male can make some sort of snarky yet dweeby comment about it. Not like Darwin could help himself; Gumball’s didn’t just look soft, they were more welcoming than Darwin had ever been able to imagine. And now glistened and wet with his saliva. Puh-lease, how could anyone blame the poor green-eyed love-struck boy?  
“Don’t even try flattering yourself, dork.” He says with a roll of his eyes, a freckled hand coming up to brush against his cheeks, as if checking whether or not the previous tint of his cheeks was still there. Can’t tell. They’re still pretty warm to the touch. He’s most likely blushing.  
“I don’t have to try, it just comes naturally.” He says, tilting his chin up and waving a hand at himself. Then he slumps back, hands splayed out on the mattress behind him.

After that a comfortable silence settles between the two of them, Darwin taking the chance to gather his homework, which was due on Monday, and wasn’t finished quite yet, unfortunately. Not only did he gather the scattered papers, but he also makes a slight attempt at gathering his thoughts, sparing Gumball a glance from the corner of his eye every now and then. Was that all Gumball was going to say about the kiss? He was most likely messing with Darwin; no doubt Gumball didn’t think this was a joke. Not every day you find out your adoptive brother is homosexual, right? 

Didn’t think so. 

“So…” Darwin starts in a murmur, standing up to go set his paperwork and binder on their desk, back turned to Gumball.

After sorting through his most recent school assignments, Darwin shuffles over to their shared dresser, opening and closing drawers until he found a decent pair of pajamas for the night. Those he pulled out and held in his arms as he turned to face Gumball. Normally, he’d change in front of him without thinking twice about it. But after what happened he would much prefer to go change in the bathroom. Gumball’s lopsided grin seems to drop a bit, finally, and he exhales softly, causing his cheeks to momentarily poof up much like when people imitate a fish. This causes the set of gills on the tanner male’s neck to flutter a bit. Normally he’d complain, about how that’s certainly not what fish look like while breathing underwater. But when Gumball would tease him about it, a small pet peeve of his, Darwin couldn’t help but find it simply adorable and in a strange way, flattering. 

Good thing Darwin hardly ever voices these thoughts, otherwise he’d certainly get himself into some other situation considerably more awkward than their current one. Gumball snapping his fingers a few times while saying Darwin’s name snaps the fish out of his thoughts, giving a questioning little ‘hnnng’ as he looks up at Gumball, his earfins perking to show he was in fact paying attention now. 

The cyan haired male rolls his eyes, “pay attention to me sometimes, man, would ya?” He snorts, then he hops up and trots over to Darwin, going to get out his own pajamas. “I was saying that maybe we shouldn’t quite pursue a relationship yet. I mean. Maybe just try keeping it like…hell, friends with benefits for a while? See how that works out, seeing as to how I’ve never considered myself interested in another male before. I have to… ‘Experiment’ first, then we can see about an actual relationship.”

Darwin’s mouth opens, then closes. He’s stuck between being insulted, shocked, and pleased with Gumball’s answer. Certainly wasn’t what he thought he’d ever get for one, that’s for sure. He figured that at best he’d get a ‘let’s just be boyfriends’ or a big fat ‘fuck off I’m not gay’ from him. 

“W…wow um, yeah- yeah we can try that out! Definitely.” He nods a couple of times, hugging his pj’s closer to his chest as he takes a small barely noticeable step away from the currently busy male. 

Gumball straightens up from his hunched over position, tossing a shirt and pants over his shoulder, much like men do with towels on commercials. “Aight, cool. Only thing: try not to do anything in public, like at school, for example. Let’s just keep this between the two of us for now.” He says, leaning in to kiss the tip of Darwin’s nose.


	3. Chapter 3

Beep, beep, beep, beep!

Gumball groans, rolling over in his bed while pulling one of his pillows over his head; cheek smushed against the mattress. His tail flicks irritably behind him. Sensitive ears fold back against his scalp to further block the annoying and seemingly constant buzzing. After so long of suffering through the god awful sound he gives a louder groan.

“Urghhhhh…” He pauses only a moment before he repeats the distressed sound, this time it’s a little louder however.

The ginger bellow him sighs and drowsily sits up, rubbing at an eye while he blinks the other at the flashing red numbers. He reaches forward and presses the snooze button, slowly getting to his feet. May as well let Gumball sleep in anyways. He’d do it during class otherwise. Anyone could figure it out if they knew him personally; one of his many hobbies includes hating school and drowning Simion out. Darwin simply wouldn’t have that, for he cared about his brothers- no, boyfriends grades.

Just the thought alone of being able to call Gumball his boyfriend seemed to make his heart skip a beat, and causes the corners of his lips to quirk up into a small smile, gaze flickering over to the lump of grumpy sleeping boy and comforters. With that he turns on his heels to gather a new set of clothing for school.

Today Darwin chose to wear tight fitting jeans, and a simple olive green tank top. He slips on his high tops afterwards, fitting comfortably over the cuffs of his jeans. Who doesn’t hate it when their jeans bunch up over or under your shoes? It’s super annoying. After he finishes combing out the knots in his hair, he comes back to their bedroom, tapping his knuckled against the door before opening and slipping inside. Only to find Gumball in the exact same spot he was before.

So that means it’s up to Darwin to wake the feline up. With a sigh, he walks over to the bunk bed, stepping up onto the ladder to gently nudge his shoulder, whispering a soft “hey wake up” to not startle him.

No luck.

The only response Darwin receives is a small grunt and a shifting boy who pulls his blankets closer and tighter around him. Darwin sighs and continues to attempt waking Gumball up like this. After so long of only getting raw stubbornness as a comeback, Darwin mutters a fuck it, and yanks the blankets off of the grouchy older male.

The action causes the feline to give a surprised yelp as his warmth is so cruelly ripped (literally) away from him. In one last attempt to save what he has left, he curls up around his pillow, eyes cracking open to peer at Darwin, his pupils going from widely dilated to thin slits at the brightness. God. What he’d give to be nocturnal like his body wants him to be. 

“Dammit, Darwin…I don’t wanna wake up right now.” Gumball grumbles at the little smile Darwin flashes him. He yawns, stretching his arms out in front of himself, head tilting away from the pillow to avoid getting any fuzzies stuck on his tongue. 

Darwin scoffs and gives his pillow a tug, “shut up, you’re going to be late for school if you don’t get up and get ready.” He informs him.

After Gumball’s ears unfold from the yawn, he exhales slowly. “I hate school.” Finally he sits up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed, tail flicking irritably behind him. 

Darwin pats Gumball’s knee in apology, excusing himself to go wake Anais up. Mrs. Mom had made Darwin the responsible one of the three, to wake up everyone aside from the parents in the house. Just because he was an early riser and actually did his homework. While Anais may do her homework, she slept like a rock. That is. If rocks could sleep. 

Gumball drags himself out of bed, landing on his feet with a soft thump. He scratches behind an ear as he shuffles over to his closet. He digs around, pulling out a navy blue V-neck. He heads over to his dresser to pull out a pair of black jeans, worn out and ripped at the knees. He tugs both the tee and pants on, heading to the bathroom to brush through his bedhead.

Once that’s finished he comes downstairs and heads into the kitchen to get himself some Captain Crunch cereal. Gumball sits down at the table, munching on that. Occasionally he stops in order to pick some of the fruity crunch bits out of his fangs. Once his fangs had apparently hit canine-tooth-puberty they caught on everything. R.I.P. Gumball’s lower lip.

Finished, he puts his bowl in the sink, dragging his feet on his way over to the couch to watch TV for the last fifteen minutes of waiting for the bus to show up. Darwin successfully woke the rabid rabbit up (Anais certainly gets it from their mother) and plops down beside Gumball as soon as he’s made it into the living Room, pecking his cheek while no one is around. 

“Hey Darwin. Or should I say, baby, babe, doll, sweetie-.” Gumball goes on, throwing an arm around the smaller male’s shoulders. 

Darwin raises an eyebrow, a fin twitching –definitely not from the warm breath washing over it coming from Gumball’s mouth. The idea of his lips being oh so near such a sensitive spot doesn’t cause goosebumps to rise on his arms and for a shiver to so cruelly dart down his spine. Oh, and that red tint in his cheeks? That’s not there either. Gumball’s ears had swivel forward to attention, catching how much of an affect that had on Darwin- who just tries his damned best to play it off by rolling his eyes and pushing at Gumball’s chest lightly. 

“Stop it you dweeb, someone might overhear you.” He whispers, shaking his head as he turns his gaze to the show that was playing its awful theme song. He wrinkles his nose in distaste, “Daisy the Donkey? Really?”

The other blinks, not quite questioning the being pushed away, seeing as to Darwin and him would always do that type of stuff he couldn’t take offense to it, so he shrugs a shoulder, slumping back against the couch as he goes to change the channel, “I wasn’t even into the tv yet so gimme a break. I was still looking.”

“Or do you still like cartoons?” Darwin teases lightly with a small poke to his ribs which results in Gumball giving a small jerk and arch away from his hand.

“Heeey now, watch it sweet cheeks-“ Gumball starts, his lips quirking into a crooked grin.

Luckily, or maybe not so luckily someone behind the two boys clears their throat, a soft tapping can be heard and it doesn’t take a genius to piece together that it’s a foot. The sound relates much to that of Thumper’s thumping from Bambi.   
“Sweet cheeks? Ew- since when did you two start giving each other pet names?” Anais speaks up, trouncing up behind them to lean on the back of the couch, poking her head between the two boys so she can look both of them in the eyes knowingly.

Gumball, of course, shies away, his cheeks tinting a light pink as his ears tilt backwards, “oh c’mon Anais, don’t bring up the pet name stuff again you know how that makes Darwin feel.” 

Darwin scoffs and shoves at Gumball’s shoulder again, making him fall onto his side from the force of it. Although Gumball may be way more flexible and graceful (at times, otherwise he’s a total klutz; your typical house cat), Darwin is the winner in brute strength. He’s somewhat stockier than the lanky feline, and built up with that of a swimmers body. Meaning he could kick some ass if not for his gentle heart. 

“Shut up! I don’t get butt hurt about that anymore.” He says, reaching over to snatch the remote out of the cyan haired boy’s grip to turn the channel to something good for once. That, being animal planet.

Anais shakes her head once, “well, it’s about time we get out to the bus stop anyways guys. And I know I can’t go alone otherwise Mr. Puttycat here might pee himself.” She says, sticking her tongue out at her brother mockingly. 

Gumball shrugs, “I’m protective of you what can I say- besides is that such a bad thing after all? 

Nope! You totally love being babied.”

“No I don’t.”

“Do too.”

“No!”

“Do~”

Darwin stands up with a little frown at the TV, turning it off with a quiet click as the two siblings begin their daily banter behind his back. Without much else to do, he gathers up his backpack and starts to the door. With a single glance over his shoulder he can confirm that the two are mindlessly grabbing their items too and following after him. Sometimes, Darwin forgets that Anais has a better GPA than him and that Gumball- well. Gumball’s always been the most childish one here, let’s be honest. With a sigh he decides it’s just best to let the two get their arguing out now, on the small block-long trip to their bus stop. 

Once there, Darwin is the one to switch back and forth between leaning against the stop sign and bouncing on his heels, looking around as if the bus were to fall from the sky out of nowhere. Gumball sits on the curb in front of him, his tail outstretched so the very tip of it flicks against the tips of Darwin’s green sneakers. The pink tip of Gumball’s tongue peeks out of his lips as his eyes stay narrowed and focused on the screen of his DS, headphones -designed specifically for cat ears, they’re pink and they’re his mother’s- plugged into the device to muffle the constant fighting noises no doubt coming from the gaming system. Anais sits beside him, shyly slipping on the glasses she now required to start focusing on doing her extra credit, book open and spread out on her lap as she scribbled her work in a notebook. 

By the time the bus got there a few other students had joined the Watterson’s, being Sarah in all her cheery, awkward glory, and Ocho. He’s always giving Gumball and Darwin the stink eye, constantly fidgeting with his clothing, his hood pulled up over his shaggy black hair. He’s had a grudge against the boys for a while. However, he has no problem with Anais, so he’ll cautiously start up awkward and almost forced conversation with her. Sarah keeps Darwin busy with a story she’d written out, she has a new one every week. Of which she acts out by prancing around and dramatically phrasing things, as well as stepping all over Gumball’s poor mutilated tail. He’ll stand up and sulk beside Darwin for a bit, watching Sarah silently aside from the occasional rude comment which earns him an elbow to the side.

The five students of Elmore High School load into the already crowded school bus, fighting once more to get the backseat of the bus. With the usual succession the Watterson’s all high five each other with cheery congratulations, wide grins all around.


	4. Chapter 4

The moment Tobias got onto the bus however things had turned downward, well, for Gumball that is. The smug multi-colored haired snob struts into the bus, glancing around the room as though he owned the bus, and for a moment his gaze had met the felines, causing the corners of his lips to twitch downwards in a second long scowl. Though that’s quick to turn into a cocky smirk as he makes his way to the back seat to squish himself between Darwin and Gumball. If Gumball were an actual cat…boy would that have made his hackles raise. He glowers at the seat in front of him, while Anais on his other side gives him a pointed look that clearly said ‘don’t start anything.

What made things even worse is the way that Tobias grinned and obviously flirts with Darwin. He would wiggle his eyebrows at the redhead, bring an arm up to flex –sadly he’s actually getting somewhere with those sports and PE classes he’s started the past few years. Darwin is completely oblivious to the flirting on the other hand, smiling kindly back at him as his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline as he checks out the gained muscle. At least he doesn’t touch it. Ugh. Gumball rubs at his upper arm through his sweater self-consciously, his ears tipping back as he looks down to his jeans. Maybe he should try working out more. Though no other guy in PE can do a split like Gumball. Penny used to absolutely love practicing cheer with him because not only were they dating but he was willing. 

He sighs quietly, looking over at the two boys just long enough to catch the sideways look Tobias had shot him, and the grin along with it as though he took pride in the clearly annoyed and upset sigh. Ever since Darwin had chosen the dark skinned male over Gumball when they were kids he’d had it out to wedge himself between Gumball and Darwin’s friendship to once again try to split the two up. Much like he’d done with Penny and Gumball when they’d started dating. Ugh. He just generally had it out for Gumball since they were kids. 

“Pretty hot huh, Darwin? I bet I could almost take on Tina at this point.” Tobias’ nasally voice pipes up, finally catching Gumball’s attention, tuning into their conversation.

Darwin smiles kindly at him and shrugs a single shoulder, “well…I guess so! I don’t know about taking on Tina though, she’s the toughest girl in class besides Jamie.” He says, shaking his head and shivering a bit. Scary women she is.

Tobias flicks a hand, “psssh no, she’s not gonna be the toughest in high school here soon enough, you’ll see.” He grins, flexing once more before he drops his arms and purposely glances Darwin over. “How’s your work out turning out?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.

Darwin blinks, “oh- it’s turning out pretty good. I think I’m building up a nice muscle mass.” He says, smoothing his shirt down a bit out of habit.

Tobias’ gaze trails after his hand when he’d done that, “yeah, me too.” He says, mouth opening before he’s cut off.

“Well I bet you still couldn’t leap up onto one of those bars without problem. Oh y’know, the seven feet tall ones. Do a flip. That stuff.” Gumball says, looking down at his claws as though he were really examining them. Beside him, Anais is heard giving a muttered ‘Gumball…’ as she pinches the bridge of her nose.

Tobias scoffs, arms crossing over his chest, “yeah well at least when we first tried doing that I wasn’t the one to land on my face. I thought cats were supposed to land on all fours? Poor mamma’s Gummypuss defines a mistake for a cat. Tsk. Upsetting, really. But I’ll take you up on your clearly hinted challenge and show you who’s best, as usual.”

Gumball’s eyes narrow at him a bit, “don’t call me that, for one. Secondly, after gym- and before lunch.” He mutters angrily, standing up without another word before he leaves the seat. 

Darwin and Anais share a little look as Gumball heads off the bus which has come to a stop in front of the school, and watch as Tobias winks at Darwin and prances after the sulking boy, whose tail is flicking in annoyance yet again. Anais shakes her head slightly and gets up, being the last off the bus besides Darwin. Once everyone has successfully loaded themselves off the bus and started up the stairs of the high school doors, Darwin quickens his pace to catch up with Gumball. Anais parts away early to go hang out with Bobert, Alan, and Teri- the Brainiac’s of their class. 

“What was all that about?” Darwin asks, gripping onto the arms of his backpack as he walks beside Gumball, his usual bounce in his step.

Gumball rolls his eyes, “what do you mean? It’s the weekly challenge we make whenever he makes his slimy way into our seat.” He replies bitterly.

“You know you’ll probably just…get embarrassed again.” Darwin says quietly, pursing his lips as he looks down to his feet.

“No I won’t, I’ve been practicing and I’m getting better with my aim when it comes down to doing stuff like that in front of people.” He insists, pouting at his boyfriend, genuine hurt evident in his eyes.

Darwin shrugs slightly, “I know but…your stage fright always sneaks up on you when you’re all confident and stuff.” He says, frowning slightly as he hesitates- but then he just settles for reaching over to awkwardly but slightly encouragingly rub at Gumball’s arm.

“Well jeez, thanks for the support man, I appreciate it.” He replies bitterly, flinging his locker open to shove his backpack into, then he’ll dig out some books that he needs for his next class with Ms. Simian. 

Darwin smiles sheepishly at the taller male, rubbing the back of his neck, “yeah…sorry about that but I’m just trying to be honest here.” He says, dropping his arm. 

“Being encouraged that I can do it would probably help better than honesty right now, Darwin.” The cyan haired boy responds, closing the door to his locker to start down to class with Darwin at his side. 

Darwin doesn’t bother stopping at his locker- he’d rather lug his backpack full of books around than have to make constant stops to swap them at his locker. “I…guess? In that case, I’m sure you’ll do great.”

“Of course I will, because I HAVE to do great since I’M great, too. It’s common logic, Darwin, and for once you’re the dumb one here to even doubt me.” He says, lifting his chin a bit with a little huff. 

“Thanks, Gumball.” Darwin responds sarcastically, watching the other knowingly. It’s so easy to tell when Gumball is nervous, to him. He just builds up this faker ego. Reminds him a lot of when Gumball found out his real name had been Zach and had built that character up into an alter ego of sorts which still shows itself every here and there. Yeesh. Frightening times.

The two just fall into a nice silence as they head down the several hallways of their massive K-12 school, glancing over their friends and newbies without a word. That is, until there’s someone directly in front of Gumball, having seemed to appear out of nowhere. She manages to elicit a girlish shriek from him when she whispers an echoing ‘boo’ directly in his face. He dropped his books, too.

Carrie barks out a couple short, dry laughs, “Oh Gumball, you’re always so easy to scare. How do you ever hope to beat Tobias in yet another challenge if you’re pissing your pants at every ghost you see?” She asks, floating on her back in a lazy circle around them.

Gumball glares, reaching down to quickly gather his book up again, “shut up Carrie I’ll do fine.”

Darwin’s eyebrows furrow, “how did you know-?”

“She probably overheard us talking because she’s a creep.” Gumball replies spitefully, though he honest to god has no problem with Carrie, in fact they’re rather close friends, especially since Penny left.

Carrie comes to a stop beside Darwin, scoffing and nudging the enormous blue tooth headphones slung around her neck, of which are currently blasting heavy metal from their speakers. “Uh, no? I had these on, as I always do on the bus. I don’t have time to spy on you two losers when I can get you to spit it out whenever I want.” 

Darwin smiles slightly, good ‘ol monotone seemingly caring-less Carrie. What would they do without her? “Oh! Well, how’d you know then if you didn’t listen in on them?”

Carrie shrugs, “I guessed. They’re always at it so it’s not that hard to assume.” She says, brushing her fingers back through her snow-white hair, cut in a cute pixie cut, but with longer, side-swept bangs. 

She’d gone towards the gothic look since they’ve hit high school, too. She’s the bad girl of the school, wears a shirt short enough to show off her pierced belly button, and her belt that holds up nothing, seeing that she doesn’t…well, have legs. No need for pants or anything. She just wears the massive belt with spikes and a skeleton buckle for looks. Her back has a beautiful tattoo she got early this year, a black pair of wings that blend nicely with a cross. She said it was badass and ironic so why not? Her eyeshadow is always grey or black, and her lips- constantly coated in thick black lipstick that…never rubs off? That or she’s always applying it, the two boys never cared enough to ask. (Link of tattoo here: http://stylesweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Angel-Cross-Wings-Tattoo-on-Back.jpg)

“True.” Darwin agrees with a little laugh, looking over to Gumball.

“…Is not.” He whines out, looking between the two while heading into the classroom to take his seat while the other’s do the same.

Tobias is already in there, and he’s quick to make a comment just loud enough for the trio to hear to Masami about how “Gumball has a crush on the emo” even though there’s literally no evidence of that being a thing. Well, from Gumball’s point of view. It’s mostly how the two bicker to one another and push and shove, which is usually considered flirting with some. Even if it’s not. 

Carrie rolls her eyes and floats over to flick his ear and phase through him, causing the dark skinned boy to shiver and glare. “Oh Toby, we all know you’re just jealous of my looks. Being that I don’t have to shine as bright as a rainbow to pull them off, that is.” She says, slipping into her desk while popping a piece of bubble gum into her mouth. 

That comment gets no response other than mumbled curses and grumbles as he turns back to Masami, probably talking about…well, who knows? Gossip. Since they’re the snobbiest rich kids in the school, they end up having to hang out pretty much. Darwin starts the assignment on the board early before class is even starting, while Gumball leans his cheek on the desk and watches him. He honestly does that when he believes people aren’t paying attention; just watches Darwin. He loves the expressions he makes when concentrating, how the tip of his tongue will poke out or how he’ll gnaw on his soft lower lip, and how his gaze will flicker to and away from Gumball, not even registering that the other is staring. 

It’s really nice. Until Ms. Simian comes hobbling into the room as the bell rings, screeching orders at the students to get their books and notepads out to start scanning through and taking notes. Gumball will do so, grumbling under his breath along with more than half the class. While the nerds, including his sister will gladly do the homework along with extra credit. Darwin, too. He just hangs out with the losers, the leader of that little group being Gumball himself. The “loser” group also includes Banana Joe, Idaho, and Carrie. 

Once Geometry is through the students all head off to their following classes, and unfortunately now that they’re in 12th grade and will be graduating this year they have separate classes. Specifically, Darwin is taking more literature based classes while Gumball is stuck doing…mostly electives. He still hasn’t figured out what he wants to do after high school. Darwin wants to become either a professional swimmer (HE’S A MERMAN THAT SHOULDN’T BE HARD) and compete in Olympics, or become an author/director. Gumball? Has only hobbies. So this is a very hard decision he has to make.

Anyways. After their first three periods have passed, it’s time for gym, where they’ll actually try to play correctly. They’ve improved a lot more than when they were little, and uncaring about sports. All thing’s considered, Darwin’s arms are built with muscle and he can throw a ball pretty hard and quick, while Gumball runs around dodging and playing ‘fetch’ for the should-be sea dweller. He’ll hand Darwin a ball with a sly little smile, and dodge all the other’s being thrown at him. For a good amount of time. But then there’s a ball slamming hard into his side catching Gumball off guard so he goes tumbling down and skidding backwards just a foot or two on his butt. Tobias is cackling from his spot on the other side of the court, clutching his stomach as he does so. Teri, surprisingly one of the only other students in Darwin’s team, gently tosses a ball so it bounces off his back. 

Gumball is helped up by Darwin who gives him a worried, questioning look, asking if he was okay which Gumball just tried to shrug off and convince him that he was fine. Gumball however wanted to maul the other nasally boy. He’s had enough of being bullied and teased by him. Now? He probably did that on purpose so he’d have less of a chance with beating him and showing him who’s boss in their challenge. Reluctantly, the two egotistic boys leave the court to go sit on the sidelines, giving each other the stink eye.


End file.
